ABSTRACT
Situated at the intersection of Historic and International Political Sociologies of IR, Critical Geopolitics and Middle East Studies, this chapter presents an innovative argument for the purpose of de-essentialising the many (overlapping) narratives of the Middle East in academia — and possibly beyond. For this purpose, Busse introduces the label “post-Ottoman space” as being derived from socially constructed processes of bordering and ordering. Such a perspective, first, helps properly taking into account the Ottoman legacy of the region. Second, this perspective contributes to overcoming an exceptionalist and essentialised status which is often ascribed to the Middle East. Finally, by using the label “post-Ottoman space” it is possible to emancipate the region from being the object of Western colonial enterprises and instead acknowledging agency from within the region itself. The chapter critically engages with the conceptual history of the term “Middle East,” before showing why instead using the label “post-Ottoman space” makes sense on several conceptual as well as empirical grounds. In this context, Busse also emphasises that in order to properly make sense of regional dynamics, it is necessary to situate the post-Ottoman space in a global context. As a result, the post-Ottoman space needs to be seen as being embedded in world society as an overarching structural horizon or social whole. Busse’s post-Ottoman space thus represents a combined approach to bordering and ordering a region.
